Nearly 11 months ago to the day, Europe witnessed its
very first HD DVD release, and while the
battle over format supremacy has been heated and rarely slanted to one corner here in the US, apparently things are vastly different across the pond. According to the (biased?) information spat out by the
European HD DVD Promotional Group, "HD DVD players have outsold Blu-ray players by a three-to-one margin in Europe's main markets so far this year," and moreover, it claimed to hold a staggering "74-percent" of the market share in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland for standalone players. So, for those residing in the aforementioned lands, are things really this skewed, or does a certain lobbyist group have their numbers all fuzzed up?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jiffylush @ Jul 12th 2007 5:58PM
HD DVD has 74% of the market share!*
*Does not include the number one high definition media player
This is like Microsoft claiming they have the best selling mp3 player*
*that doesn't start with an 'i'
Jiffylush @ Jul 12th 2007 5:59PM
If it was my job to promote HD DVD, I would also pretend the PS3 didn't exist.
Xyzzy @ Jul 12th 2007 7:35PM
Say what you want, but because of the European markets, there are actually a lot more HD DVDs available to play than Blu-Ray disks. Most of the good BD movies are available to buy on HD DVD overseas. Last I saw, the number was roughly 310 HD DVDs and only about 260 BD disks.
The PS3 isn't selling well in Europe (and I bet the price drop in the US isn't going to make the Europeans rush out and buy one - they're probably rather pissed).
Kevin Murphy @ Jul 12th 2007 8:22PM
What portion of PS3s are hooked up to HD sets? In Europe? A quarter? Of those, how many are owned by people who buy a lot of movies? Many, maybe, but not all.
It may be disingenuous to ignore PS3s, but it is probably much more misleading to count them all as though they were standalone BD players. The proper discount is probably about a factor of 5.
Nfinity @ Jul 13th 2007 12:31AM
Exactly! For example the HD DVD has so much market share that even Sony is releasing their movies in HD DVD. A friend of mine just got Underworld:Evolution on HD DVD released by a Sony company in Spain.
It's just a matter of time when Blu-Ray shuts down here in States too. With Microsoft and Amazon investing money in 1000 hd dvd indie initiative and a huge number of laptops from all major notebook manufacturers coming out with HD DVD drives with new standalone HD DVD player for movie buffs coming at $299, what's not to like.
I think that people who root for Blu-Ray are lying to themselves. You can spin statistics and numbers however you like, but the overall presence and attachment to HD DVD by consumers is CLEARLY much above BD and it only continues to grow. I have both and still I prefer HD DVD as it is much more flexible format and consumer friendly. Almost everyone who bought HD DVD bought it for this reason too and with $299 players and soon discounts with HD DVD X360 addons along with cheap PC HD DVD drives, all that's left for Blu-Ray supporters is to cry that they can't match the success of HD DVD.
The ONLY thing that is really keeping Blu-Ray alive is PS3 numbers, if it wasn't for it, this war wouldn't even lasted for 2 months. Poor PS3 owners (including myself btw) can only use that shiny black box for movies and this is skewing the numbers, but it's not through will of our own, it's just that there's nothing else to do with it so I buy an ocassional Blu-Ray disk with a movie I can't get on HD DVD. Once blockbuster starts renting Blu-Ray disk I won't even have the need to buy any Blu-Ray movies anymore. Why would I waste money.
Dave Lynch @ Jul 13th 2007 9:55AM
I don't know where you got your info, but last time I checked, PS3 was selling VERY well in europe. care to give us a link ?
SimbaDogg @ Jul 12th 2007 9:37PM
wow...and i heard that nazi supporters believe that the holocaust was a hoax
J @ Jul 12th 2007 9:58PM
Even if a PS3 isn't being used as a Bluray movie player now, it's certainly a purchase that makes buying a HD-DVD player later a pointless and unlikely act. I think it's fair to say that people that own PS3's are people that HD-DVD will not be selling much if anything to.
Alex @ Jul 12th 2007 11:40PM
Is this HD DVD lobbyist stationed in Amsterdam?
Christian @ Jul 13th 2007 2:07PM
I live in London and I have a PS3 and have friends who have as well. I dont know one person who has a HD DVD player. Even Blockbuster are only selling/renting out Blu Ray and dont even bother with HD DVD. And in the noname video stores around my area they only have Blu Ray as well.
vilvic @ Jul 13th 2007 10:11AM
I don't know where Nfinity is getting his information but I have been watching this closely and my understanding is vastly different.
I've just come back from 10 months in Canada. In HMV (in Canada) the split on the shelves between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is 50/50. Since returning to the UK - in both Virgin and HMV the split is 66/33 in Blu-ray favour.
HD-DVD is not more flexible since Blu-ray uses java making it more powerful.
Looking at the 30 movies more are available to Blu-ray than HD-DVD.
I owned a PS3 in Canada and have just bought one in the UK. As a media center for games/music/video it is an excellent machine.
Xyzzy @ Jul 13th 2007 1:45PM
@vilvic : "HD-DVD is not more flexible since Blu-ray uses java making it more powerful. "
You mean like giving people the ability to potentially brick your BD player?
http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/07/07/13/139223.shtml
David @ Jul 14th 2007 3:18PM
i hope that some of you PS3 supporters actually took the time to read the article in the link provided
"The figures were for stand-alone players only and did not include sales of games consoles such as Sony Corp.'s (6758.T) (NYSE:SNE - news) PlayStation 3, which contains a Blu-ray player."
Brian Hudkins @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:16AM
J I disagree with your comment, I own a PS3 as well as a stand-alone HD-DVD player... and I buy movies for both. However, I buy many more movies in the HD-DVD format and if there was a movie that came out in both formats my purchase would go to HD-DVD. I have about 75 HD movies, 15 of them Blu, the rest are HD-DVD. I will continue to support both formats but strongly feel in the end HD-DVD will prevail.